Christmas Survey

Thought I'd follow Allison's lead on this Christmas Survey... Here we go!

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
I do like a good nog, but I still think that Chocolate is always the best idea.

Colored lights on tree or white?
We do white lights on our tree, but I'm not anti-colored lights. On the outside, I would definitely stick to white.

When do you put your decorations up?
When I'm done with classes for the semester, or when I'm trying to avoid writing papers for class. I don't really have a plan, I just do things when I happen to have the motivation.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Sweet potatoes/yams/whatever you want to call them. I like them the standard way, but I'm not opposed to marshmallows on top.

Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve with the Kneifel clan - most if not all of my cousins from that side were there. (I remember my cousin Jessica mutilating her candle during the service and then playing with the wax. Not sure why that stands out, but I must have watched her more than I watched what was happening in the service.) I was so excited to have everyone there. I wished that I could have every Christmas with all of my cousins, but it rarely seemed to happen at all after that Christmas. I must have been in 5th/6th grade? Not sure...

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't know if I ever fully bought into the idea of Santa, though I did have one Easter where I vividly remember seeing the tail of the Easter Bunny as he left our house in the middle of the night. I can still picture it - and I still think my parents may have had a hand in tricking me, though they claim no responsibility. And as far back as I can remember, I would sneak into my parents' closet to see what we were getting for Christmas... not sure about the answer to this question, I suppose.

Snow! Love it or dread it?
It's fun and pretty, but it does cause a lot of accidents. And I like shoveling as winter starts, but by the end of January, I'm ready for spring.

Can you ice skate?
Yep. I have to get used to it again every year, but I pick it up pretty quickly. As I've packed on the pounds, it's become a little more difficult to balance, but I think I can handle myself pretty well (except when I am on those dreadful entrance/exit ramps at the iced-over parking lots...)

Do you remember your favorite gift?
I had some good ones - bikes, CD/tape players, a Secret Sender, etc. But the gifts that I still remember and wish I still had were Precious Places. The most fun plastic dollhouses ever. They each came with a "key" that had a basic disc magnet in the end of it, and you could use the key to do various things. You could turn a switch in the chimney, and the lights would come on. The front doors had a magnet in them so you could "open" them with the key. All the people had magnets on their feet, so you could make them "walk". And the houses all connected with elevated sidewalks so the people could travel between homes. Over a few years, I collected a small town. Sad to say I have no idea where they are now. Probably lost in a move during my parents divorce. :-(

What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Time with family/friends, and a break from the daily grind to refocus on what's important.

What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Fudge - our family makes a Fannie Mae fudge recipe. I like to make a ton and force everyone I see to eat it with me.

What is your favorite tradition?
Don't know if I have any yet. All my family traditions from growing up have been squashed by my parents' divorce. Time to make some new ones... I guess I do like making fudge each year...

What is your favorite Christmas Song?
The Christmas Song. (a.k.a. "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...")

Ever recycled a Christmas present?
Don't think so, but it is possible. I see nothing wrong with doing so.

Busy Busy!

It has been ages since I posted. :-( Sorry!

I have been so distracted with things lately. School, work, and now practicing for the Christmas concert have taken over. Oh, but I am glad to have found some time for scrapping. My Christmas cards are done way ahead of schedule! Now to get together addresses...

I have only one more "learning" class left for the semester, and one additional class for presenting final papers. Still not sure what I am going to do for my final paper, but I will probably choose a topic tomorrow. I also have to participate in a discussion board this week for class. School is so close to wrapping up - wow did the semester fly by! I do like being in school, but I will be glad to have one less thing on my plate between December 16th and the end of January.

The music for orchestra is manageable, but I am having to practice a lot, and I'm still struggling on the fast parts. Though this is to be expected, I'm a little more nervous since I've lost Jennifer D., Jenny W., and all the other wonderful flautists who could sight read stuff that I couldn't even dream of playing up to speed... I do think with a bit more practice, it will come together nicely, though. And I have three other flute players joining me, so hopefully they practice hard this next week, also. Gosh darn flute parts - they are always so fast!

And one more thing about orchestra - yay for the strong Xpedition turnout! We are definitely representing. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anyone, but our class has contributed two trumpets, a french horn, a trombone, a saxaphone, a clarinet, a viola, a flute/pennywhistle, and a somewhat reluctant auxilliary percussionist.
:-) Woohoo! Anyone else want to join? There's still time!

I so want to just practice and not think about projects for school... can you tell?

My hives have hives!

So, this may not be a very pleasant post, but for some reason, I can't seem to think about anything else right now...

I got my allergy shots today a little later than normal. It was about 3 PM when I received my weekly stab. I waited my 30 mintues and drove back to the office. Soon after, I began to itch - slightly more than normal. Particularly under my arms and on my tummy. Then it got worse... I headed home about 30 minutes early.

So, now that I've had a chance to show Matt and look in a mirror, I have had a good look at the biggest hives since I had that virus attacking my nerves. Maybe it's back? I don't know, but man, do I want to swim in a tub of ice water right about now.

And yes, I did have Matt take a picture, but I'm not sharing online. :-) Too awkward...

Catching up

Since the writers' strike last year, Matt and I haven't watched much TV. Recently, we decided that it was about time to catch up on Heroes and Smallville. It was a little easier to catch up on Heroes - fewer episodes. But Smallville - in the last couple of weeks, we have made it through the 2nd half of season 7 and we are now caught up to the current episode of season 8 (or so we think.)

I'm pretty excited about this season of Smallville. I think it's the last one... They are finally starting to transition things towards the standard storyline of the movies. Things are starting to heat up between Clark and Lois... :-) I think it's about time to wrap this series up. Looking forward to the series finale!

Corn Maze!

Now that Matt has been layed-off, we are trying to be even more frugal than before. Still, we do have to have some fun... so... we had been planning to meet with the refugee family to teach them more English this morning, as Matt, Jason, and Spring have been doing for a while now. Just before we were going to leave the house, Jason called to let us know the plans had been cancelled, b/c the family was having some sort of family event, so they wouldn't be available. New plans? Jason and Spring wanted to go to an apple orchard and a corn maze.

I've been wanting to go to a corn maze for a long time. I found out this morning that my mom does not really care for them - probably one of the reasons I never went as a child. (At least I never remember going as a child...)

Anyway, we decided to go ahead and spend some money on a fun day at the orchard today. Good times, good raspberries and apples, and lots of good walking/exercise. Fall is definitely my favorite season. I think it is about time that I actually pull out the fall decorations. Guess I know what I'm doing tonight!

Two tags?

So I waited too long to respond to Jennifer, because Jen also tagged me for this same meme (see earlier post). So, I unknowingly tagged Jen and a few others that she had tagged before reading the details of her meme. Sorry to those that I tagged in addition to Jen, but I'm too lazy to find new people to tag. And now I need to go to sleep. Goodnight!

Busy times...

It's been so long since I last posted. Heck, I haven't even really had time to keep up with email for the last month. Anyway, I want to play some catch-up, and first on my list is following up with a couple of things I've been tagged to do...

Tag # 1:
My friend Jennifer over at A Tale of Two Kiddies tagged me to participate in a "get to know you" meme way back on September 9. (Forgive me, Jennifer, for the long delay in this post.)

Per Jennifer, here are the rules for this meme:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

Here are my 6 random facts:


Fact #1:

When I was in elementary school, my friends and I formed a singing group. I was convinced that someday I would be a professional singer. I played it "cool" with my friends, but I was definitely full of myself. And now the truth is out - I can carry a tune, but I'm no where near professional status. :-) Aww heck - stage fright would've kept me from performing professionally even if I did have a rock-star voice.

Fact #2:

Speaking of stage fright, during my freshman year of highschool, my band director asked (a.k.a. forced) me to play simple piano interludes between set changes during our Christmas concert. My stage fright was so extreme, my fingers shook to the point of hitting all the keys except the correct ones. It was described by an adult I knew as "dismal". How I ever got up the nerve to go on stage again, I'll never know.

Fact #3:

The only reason I ever grew in my ability to play the piano was the fact that I absolutely love the music of Tori Amos. Her lyrics are a little "interesting", but the music behind them is - in my opinion - wonderful. My flute stand-mate, Becky, loved Tori, too, and Becky encouraged me to learn song after song. My collection of memorized Tori songs is still a good size, and I tend to play her songs when I get sentimental about high school.

Fact #4:

Before I was actively trying to follow Jesus, one of my Christian friends, a fellow musician, recruited me to play a praise song with him and a few other friends in a variety show at school. It was the first contemporary praise song I learned to play. Who knew we could get away with singing "Heart of Worship" in a public school? Anyway, at the time, I didn't really get what I was singing. It's amazing how growing up in a church can still have such a limited impact on someone. I was a rebel, but thank God that He placed certain people in my life and worked through them to show me what I was missing.

Fact #5:

Now that I am in grad school, I have at least 2 or three papers due during the course of a semester. My classmates who know me well will tell you that no matter how hard I try, I can't start writing a paper until the night before class. What they may not realize is that even though I don't start writing until the last minute, I think through most of what I want to write ahead of time so that all I need to do is type it up once - start to finish - and make a few edits on the morning the paper is due. I hope I never have a paper due that is longer than 20 pages, because I don't think I could finish that in only one night and still make it through work the next day...

Fact #6:

I am a very passionate and sentimental person who frequently types then immediately deletes sappy or highly charged statements from my posts before publishing. There are some things that even I won't put in writing. I know, this may shock some of you, but it is true. And no, I didn't have something else originally in mind for fact #6. I just couldn't think of anything else that was good, so here's what you get. :-)

And now, I tag: Jen, Allison, Ali, Lela, Kate, and Matt.

Flooding in Indiana

My dad recently sent a email with pictures that a friend of his took after the flooding in my hometown of Hobart, Indiana. These pictures are from all over the town - many of my old "stomping grounds" were flooded. I had heard there was flooding, but I had no idea there was this much water...



The flooded football field in these pictures is where our high school footbal team played for years. I think there's a new stadium built now - or at least there is one in the works - but it is still sad to see this place under water. Brickie Bowl is on the site of where the high school used to be, but the buildings now house the middle school. The field has lots of ties to tradition and memories for people in Hobart. I marched on that field more than I can remember. And all the flooding around the lake - such a bummer to see how much damage all that water did to my hometown. I know I have friends that live close to the lake who have likely been affected by this mess. Makes me feel even worse for the people down in Texas and the rest of the hurricane affected areas...

For more Hobart after-Flood pics, click here.

Third time's a charm...

So, as some of you may know, in the course of building these tables, Matt has accidentally inflicted minor wounds on me two times before tonight. On his third try, which happened tonight, he actually managed to break skin. My shins are now covered with band-aids and neosporin to help prevent infections. :-)

After all that, I really wanted a root beer float. I tried to play the "broken and bruised wife" card in order to obtain said float. My scheme may have failed, but I did manage to get a smoothie out of the deal.

Mondays

Of the times I have been sick in the past few years, I would have to say that more often than not, they fall on Mondays. I don't know why, but I would assume that it is because I have too much fun on the weekends, and my body is punishing me for it. That being said, there are some very good reasons and some not so good reasons to get sick on Mondays rather than other days...

Some good reasons:
- The week after you are sick is short one day. Yay!
- There are a few Monday holidays that allow for you to take a "rest day" without having to call in sick, like this one.
- You probably finished most of your chores on the weekend, so now you can relax a bit without having to worry about all that you can't get done.

Some bad reasons:
- You are sick, so you can't fully enjoy the extra day off.
- If you do have to call in sick, it generally looks bad, like you are just pretending so you can get an extended weekend.
- The bathroom that you probably cleaned over the weekend now needs another cleaning, but thankfully, that's just a small part of the house.

So anyway, I threw-up this morning around 2 AM or so... But I'm feeling a little better, so I'm going to be irresponsible and do what I was originally planning to do today anyway. Thankfully it is Labor Day, so I can still try and take it easy as much as possible.

Matt's Birthday

Our tradition in the past couple of years has been for the person with the birthday to decide what they want, and then the other person gets it for them. This takes the stress out of present shopping and helps to limit the amount of $$ we waste on each other.

This year, Matt thought and thought and thought about what he wanted for his birthday. My mom got him a very fun "grill master" apron, which he promptly put to good use. But he could not think of anything that he wanted me to spend money on. What he did have was a good idea...

Matt has been getting very frustrated lately with his spices. In particular, finding the right spice when it is needed seems impossible, and purchasing duplicate items is a relatively common occurrance. So, Matt asked that for his birthday, I organize his food/spice cabinets. There was a twist on this request, but I'll keep that between Matt and me. :-)

And the result? We now have a shelves for all drink related items (hot cocoa, tea, coffee, lemonade, etc.), sweet baking items, other baking items (crisco, cornmeal, baking soda/powder), flour items, noodles/rice, meat rubs/seasonings (thanks Allison and Elizabeth!), and the elusive spices.

Most of the stuff is just now a little easier to locate due to the categorization system, but most of all, we are happy about how the spices turned out. We made an after dinner trip to the store to pick up a lazy susan and a tiered spice shelf, both of which make our spices much easier to locate. Don't you agree?

Yay for a productive evening, and yay for Matt's birthday! Now we are off to celebrate a little more before bed. Goodnight, everyone!

Building Tables

So, on Saturday, Matt and I started building our 2nd end table and coffee table for the living room. I'm getting excited to see what the room will look like when we have all the furniture in place, walls painted, decorations set up... Note that this is probably a long way out still, but hey - I can be excited now. :-)

Anyway, here is a pic of the first table in case you are interested...

It's hard to see the little details that we added since it is so dark, but that just means there will be more to see should you come to visit!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I laughed, I cried.... it was good. And why? I would say because if you look beyond the fairy tale relationships and experiences, you see true emotions. Friendship, loss, sadness, anger, forgiveness... - these movies have it all. And I am in a wonderful mood lately to be taking it all in. What a great way to spend a Tuesday night!

Thoughts of the Moment

So, a good portion of our Bible Study is ready to "multiply", and I'm not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it is good to provide opportunities to easily pull more people in. On the other hand, I'm afraid that we may be missing the point of what is needed to form a successful cell group, and what the purpose of cell groups should be. Maybe it depends on the group - maybe there's not one answer. But right now, I'm feeling like we are all so focused on making new friends that we are losing sight of keeping the old.

Or maybe it's just a select handful of us that feel things so deeply that any recession in a friendship hurts more than others can imagine. I have spent a good many hours comtemplating why I regularly react this way. Over the summer, I have drifted slightly from my "old" friends simply due to a lack of time spent together. I don't think this means that my "love language" is quality time. In fact, I'm kind of frustrated with the whole "love language" model. I think that a need for a certain "love language" is born out of social/parental conditioning more than anything else, but that nature vs. nurture argument can be saved for another day...

Back to where I was heading - God wants us to be in relationships. Why? I think it's because relationships show a part of the character of God. He wants to be in a relationship with us, and he wants us to be in relationships with Him and each other. I also believe that cell groups tend to be formalizations of what we assume God intends for us to have in relationships. The formalization of it all is just starting to bug me. I want to have relationships with fellow believers where we can be responsive to where the Holy Spirit is guiding us and leading us to act in each others lives. I don't want to be restricted to this night or that night, or this region or that region, or "new" people or "old" people. (Or 2, 5, 10, or more people at a time...) I want my focus to be on following where the Holy Spirit leads to provide for anyone that I feel called to reach out to. And I want to be the kind of person that doesn't let her own priorities fall out of line with God's. I'm falling into the trap of formalization, and I don't like it.

Not to say that I don't respect what others think or feel about the subject. I'm know that I'm probably in the minority on this one, and I will probably upset someone with what I've written. Speaking out tends to upset at least one other person. But again, I do feel that we may be missing the point.

More than once, I have been a participant in letting go of friendships out of convenience - i.e. people stop coming to regular meetings, so I don't bother to reach out to them anymore. It's laziness on my part. I get wrapped up in my own little life and fail to see the bigger picture of how God could've used me had I been listening. I fear that without my comfort blanket of stable, regular meetings, history will repeat itself. I'm tired of losing contact. I'm tired of feeling deserted and then becoming the deserter. I want to hang on to the real friendships I have already. I have no problem meeting new people. In fact, I like meeting new people and getting to know them. This happens to be a key piece of the personality that God gave me. But I don't want to feel constantly at risk of losing ties that I have with fellow Christians simply because we want to clear the way for more people. It shouldn't be like that. With God to guide us, we shouldn't have to lose touch with friends. I just feel like we are all missing something big if that is what we continue to do.

I know I haven't really expressed this well, but it is a glimpse into how I am processing this right now. Hopefully most of you will not take offense to what I have said, rather think about it and take from it whatever bits and pieces stand out to you as being truthful. And please, no lectures on how we can't be close friends with everyone - I am not that naive. I'm just a deeply emotional person who does not like to lose contact with those I have already grown close to. Just a little something to keep in mind if you don't yet know me that well...

Another weekend has ended...

I was able to get my email all checked, but I still didn't get any reimbursement application writing done. Oh well, maybe on Tuesday it will happen... :-/ I know it will get done, but I'm just not interested in doing it now, and I know I have time.

So intsead, I slept, read, slept, watched a movie with Matt, and ate. All in all, I think it was a good weekend. I'm so ready to stay home on weekends for a while. I need to balance out my overly social summer.

And now, I'm going to go read some more before bed.

Yay for the Weekend!

Matt and I barely did anything today, and it was great! We did go to the bookstore to by my books for my fall class and finish sealing the table we built. We also made a stop by the library and the grocery store, picked up a redbox movie, and spent the majority of the day reading, playing games, watching the movie we rented, eating (mmmm... mixed berry smoothies...), and doing a variety of other relaxing activities.

And again, Max jumped the fence while I was supervising. That darn cat! At least I know I can still jump the fence to grab him before he gets too far. :-D

Now I think it's time for some more reading. Yes, I think I will leave all email-checking and tuition-reimbursement-application-writing for tomorrow. Procrastination is what I do best on Saturdays....

Max's Great Escape

It's official: Max has earned his kitty-scout merit badge in chain-link fence climbing.



The story:



Yesterday morning, as Matt was leaving for work, he happened to catch a glimpse of Max darting from the yard next-door and heading to our own backyard. Since Matt was already in his car and driving away, he gave me a call. I got up, threw on some clothes, and left the bedroom to go collect Max. As soon as I stepped out of the bedroom, I saw Max waiting at the porch door. That's interesting... I wonder if Matt saw Max or another cat? ... But Max is pretty hard to mistake...



So in comes Max, and the day continues as normal.



After we got home, we ask the neighbors if they have seen Max outside the yard. The reply that they found him in their garage the day before yesterday. Of course, they are fine with that, but technically this is against city rules. Also, Max could become a pest to other neighbors if he got out. I argue that it's possible he's learned to open the gate - it's not that hard to do. Matt thinks he's learned to climb the fence. Hmm...



So we decide to test him to see first-hand what new-found skill he has gained. I take Mattie just outside the fence, and I call to Max to have him follow. He cries for a bit, tries to find a way through, but he doesn't really try that much. We need to raise the bar on the bait we are providing....



So Matt brings me some ice cream. Muhahaha! We have your attention now, kitty! Max tries especially hard to squeeze his way through the gate. No luck. No attempt to open the gate. I keep calling. All of a sudden, Max hops slightly and flattens himself against the middle part of the fence, and he starts making his way toward the top. Good boy, Max! At the top, he hesitates slightly, but decides he might as well jump/fall to the side with the ice cream. As his reward, I let him lick a bit of ice cream off of my finger.



And now Max's days of unsupervised hunting in the backyard are officially over. I am sad, but I have to remember that it is his own darn fault. Also, if he were to get out, he could get hit, and Mattie would be lost without him. :-( Looks like he'll have to get used to being mostly an indoor kitty from now on...

Busy, busy, busy!

Tonight was busy, but fun. I got to meet with some of my classmates for dinner at O'Gara's, and then I got to hang out at Lacy's for my third (?) pampered chef party this year. Good stuff!

This summer has been really busy on the whole. I seem to find that the times I plan to keep open and take a break from activity, I plan more activity than when I'm busy with things like school. Let's just say that I'm glad to be staying busy because otherwise I would be spending more time cleaning my house. :-)

Speaking of which, now that Matt's family has left, our house has magically become less cluttered. Time to pull out the vacuum! Maybe I should wait until we get back from the camping weekend... yes, good plan...

New month, new blog skin...

So I have been horrible about posting regularly throughout July. I have been too focused on other things to bother. But now is time to play catch-up. I've had a week-long vacation with Matt's family visiting us, and as soon as things setle back to normal, I hope to get back to blogging regularly. We do have the camping trip next weekend, though, so it still may be a while. Hopefully I don't forget everything before I have a chance to record it all!!!

And now I have to go write an email about camping before I forget about that, too...

Laundry and Road Trips

I have found that the best time to do laundry is right before bed. I just can't seem to motivate myself to start it any earlier in the day. Why do I have this problem? I have no idea. But at least my laundry will be done before Matt and I leave town after work tomorrow!

By the way, we are going out of town to see family in Southern Indiana. We are staying at a cabin with my mom and Kevin, Aunt Alix and Uncle Greg, Aunt Carol and Uncle Jason. Everyone else will be there, too, but they will be staying elsewhere. It should be a fun time. Two weekends in a row that we will be on a roadtrip! And this one Matt and I get to spend together while listening to books on tape. I wonder what he has planned for us to listen to this time... :-)

To divulge, or not to divulge

This post has been blocked due to a lack of control over what was written. But, I did at least remember to blog. :-)

A penny saved is a penny earned...

Well, the latch on our cooler broke this weekend. Matt was bummed. :-(

I decided to look for a replacement latch online. Only $7 and aproximately 7 days in shipping time later, we have a new latch!

(This "Cromer family money-saving moment" has been brought to you by the number 7.)

Summer Plans

Matt and I have a lot of fun summer plans. We are almost booked solid! Camping, trips to Indiana, visits from family, more camping, etc. I've really been wanting to sew a microfiber futon cover and loveseat slip cover for our living room, but I'm just not finding the time - too many other priorities. I also was hoping to help Matt make some new tables for our living room, but seeing as I can't even do a bit of sewing, there's no way we'll get to making tables.

I'm a little bummed, but I'd much rather do what I'm doing instead - spending time hanging out. Come fall, I'll be back in school, and homework will once again take over my non-work life. Registration for fall classes starts July 7th. The summer is ending way too quickly! At least I've convinced myself to only do one class at a time. Taking 6 years to complete my masters is okay, right? I mean, they only require that we complete it within 7 years...

Allergy Shots

I love getting allergy shots. It's my one good excuse to take a long break in the middle of the workday. I especially love getting shots in the summer. I drive to the clinic with my window down and the music blaring - wind blowing my hair into millions of tiny knots. Then, once the shots are done, I'm required to sit in the office for 30 minutes while I wait to make sure I'm not going to have a major reaction. Of course, I will probably never have a major reaction, but I still like the fact that I get to sit for 30 minutes and not feel guilty about not utilizing my time better.

So today I have chosen to blog, since it has been a very long time since I last did so. Last week, I had a few spare moments, but I spent the time designing a new blog skin instead of blogging. I have yet to find free time to actually get the code in place, but at least I have all the graphics ready to go. :-)

Another week flew by

Abe and Ali's wedding was awesome, and of course, we didn't take many pics b/c we were too busy having fun. :-)

Work was really busy this week. My poor Manager has pneumonia, and thankfully a co-worker returned from her maternity leave just in time to help keep the office running (even though it's technically not her job). Two other co-workers are working out of other offices for a while and only once in a while coming back to help in St. Paul. (One comes back to help more often than the other, but basically, we are all busy trying to keep things running smoothly in our own areas.)

So, as expected, I hate leaving things hanging, which means I've been working a good amount of overtime. If only I was paid for overtime.... Still, I don't want too much on my plate in the mornings, so I prefer to just stay late. I do like being busy with something I feel that I am capable of doing well. :-)

The zoo was fun. And we were lucky enough to win something during BINGO! Saturday was definitely an exhausting but fun day.

And now the weekend is over. I have watched 4 movies this weekend. I might have been able to get more done had I been motivated, but movies are always such fun! At least my hubby has been motivated to get a few things done. Thankfully, he's not mad at me for slacking - yet....

I'm looking forward to another crazy week! And just in time for another wedding...

A Stye - Yuk!

So I'm not very happy this evening. I seem to have developed a stye in my right eye. My lower eyelid is very puffy, and this makes me sad. I picked up some eyedrops that are supposed to help with the irritation and swelling, so hopefully this horrid thing starts to shrink and disappear ASAP. Ugh - I really disdain eye problems...

"Messenger"

I found the third book in Lois Lowry's trilogy at the library. Started the book on Tuesday night, finished it Wednesday night. Good stuff. Not exactly what I expected, and the first book is still my favorite, but it is nice to have made my way through all three... especially considering the fact that they are such quick reads...

So for those of you who enjoy novels about the future and failed "utopias", I recommend the trilogy (The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger). Keep in mind that they are intended for young adults, so they are not extremely involved, and the foreshadowing is hugely blatant and obvious. :-)

Sunday

We went to morning and evening church yesterday. It was nice to be so close to the church so not much time was wasted in the car. A group went out for Chinese food for lunch after church - good stuff.

We spent some time chilling at the house. The boys spent some time at the nearby university hitting and then chasing a few little white balls while Kim and I walked to nearby stores to scope out some deals. It was really warm out, so we came home to cool off. Before evening church, Kim and I did a little more scouting for deals, but it was pretty quick shopping.

After evening church, some friends came over and Nathan grilled some chicken legs while the ladies who cook make some veggies and mashed potatoes. Good food. Then we just hung out for a while and watched a couple of funny videos on youtube.

Also, Kim and I had talked a bit about books we liked, and I mentioned the book, "The Giver," by Lois Lowry that I liked so much when I was younger. Kim happened to have a copy of the companion book that came just after it, so I read it and finished it this morning. I was bummed about the ending, b/c it seemed to just be starting, but then I realized that there was still a third book to read. I tried to reserve it at the library, but I realized that my card had expired since its last use. Bummer. But I will definitely try to make it in to the library when we get back home. I love young adult books - they are such quick and easy reads! I can actually finish them before I get distracted with other projects and activities!

It is now noon (1 PM eastern) on Monday, and not much as happened yet. We're contemplating being active, but it is so hot that activity doesn't necessarily sound fun. I think the boys are planning a trip to the auto parts store to buy a new serpentine belt for the Vibe. I think I'll just stay here and chill...

Saturday Night Campfire

So, our first day in Marion was good. Matt and his brother Nathan were able to check out the car and determine that a good majority of the work that our mechanics had suggested probably doesn't need to be done for a while. They were also able to figure out why the check engine light had come on. It's nice to be related to people who know what they are doing with cars and like helping out. :-)

After the boys were done, we all headed out to the house of Nathan and Kimberly's Sunday School teachers, who let lots of people use their yard regularly. They have a pond, and a huge fire pit. They have paddle boats/canoes, and all sorts of facilities in place just to make their yard a good place for large group hangouts. Nate and Kim regularly hang out there with friends from school/church. They still have friends from school in the area, so some of their friends also came along to hang out. We cooked burgers and made s'mores. Some people fished and caught a couple fish. We made a huge fire in the firepit and burned lots of random wood. And Nathan even killed a snake - probably the gross highlight of the evening.

I will have to tell more about the snake in person. The only camera I had at the time was on my phone, so I'll have to see if I can get the pics off of it somehow. I think everyone else knows a way... we'll see about getting that done after I'm home again.

Anyway - gotta get to bed b/c church starts at 9 AM EST, which means 8 AM Central, and I'm still tired from only getting 4 hours of sleep last night. Goodnight!

On the Road Again

We are about 3.5 hours away from our destination. It's sunny, and I'm excited that I discovered how to make my laptop screen brighter. Also, very cool thing about the Vibe is that it has an outlet that I can plug my laptop into. Basically, I have my entire office in the car now. Fun times. :-)

So - exciting news of the moment - Just before we left yesterday, Matt and I were able to stop over at Ali and Abe's new house for a tour. Very fun! We are excited that they will be living so close to us so we will be able to hang out more easily - that is as long as our busy schedules have some open spots...

So anyway, I'm not sure what the plans are for the weekend, so it'll be an adventure! I know that we are hoping to get some work done on the car, and Matt brought his Xbox and a TV, so they'll probably play some games. I remembered to bring my current crochet project and some books and magazines... We'll have to see what we end up doing. I'm definitely excited about having a 4-day weekend! If only gas weren't $4 a gallon...

All Packed!

This has got to be a record for me. I was done packing for the weekend long before bedtime arrived. Woohoo! It pays to take a night off.

Also, I have been slowly adding labels to my old posts, and as you may have noticed, I added a label cloud just under the recent comments widget. Very fun! (And pretty, too!)

Smoothies and Sundaes

Smoothies and Sundaes - wouldn't you say that this combination makes the best dinner ever? I would. And that is what I had for dinner tonight. Ahh, the cool, liquidy-ness of them both - it just makes my throat and tummy happy.

So apparently warmer weather makes me lose my appetite for real food... a glass of lemonade is sounding really good right about now... :-)

A Long Day

I finally left work at 7 PM, and I was just in time to check my voicemail and find out that I had missed my monthly dinner with my Guidant pals. :-( I had to hold down the fort this afternoon, and I didn't even have time to use the restroom. Let's just say that I'm looking forward to the upcoming long weekend in Indiana and the long car rides with my hubby and good books-on-tape.

The New Car

The Buick, as many of you know, is about to bite the dust. Well..... let's be honest here. I think it already has. Matt got a tip from one of the people he called about getting some cash for the Buick while getting it towed. The guy seemed to know all about this kind of behavior on this car, and he had a name for the part that was going bad... Not sure what that was, but it is interesting that after all our efforts, we may have found the answer from a very unlikely source.

Anyway, we got a *new* car - a 2003 Pontiac Vibe. Very fun. :-) More space than the Corolla, still good MPG rating, and this one actually has AC (unlike the Buick)! So, since many of you are not very familiar with this car, I thought I would post a pic. This may or may not be the car we bought since I pulled the pic from the seller's website, but either way, it is a good representation of what we ended up getting.

All in a Very-Early-on-Saturday Morning's Work

Well, here it is. Saturday morning. And the reason I am up so early? Well, we had a new person starting an assignment today, and I needed to make sure he arrived successfully. Results? I call the company - no joy. The new person is not there, and it's a few minutes before starting time. I boot up my machine and sign in to all my software gadgets so I can work from hom, and I look up the newbie's #. I call the n00b, and he says, "I can't figure out how to get in the building." Breathing a sigh of relief that I don't have to make calls for backups at 6 in the morning, I instruct him in how to get in. Believe it or not, I gave him this very same information the day before. I think the problem is that yesterday, the weather was so nice that everyone was too distracted to use their Listening Ears. Now let's hope that he can do a good job so I don't have to find someone else for tomorrow...

The Hunt for a Quality Ride

Tonight (Thursday) Matt thought he had found a great deal on a car. After work, I drove to Richfield to pick it up. A Russian family owned the car. The wife was driving the car, and the husband was a mechanic, so things were looking good despite the fact that the car was stated to have sustained some superficial damage a couple years prior. So I drove to our house for a quick dinner break and a chance to check out a CarFax report before heading to our mechanic in Blaine.

The mechanics looked under the hood before even beginning the inspection. They found a number of places where corners were cut during a variety of repairs, so they let us think about whether we actually wanted to do the inspection before charging us a penny. (Did I say I love this place?) We had taken the time to get the car, so we went ahead with the inspection. Good news? The frame looked to be in good shape. Bad news? Everything else had minor problems: Missing chunks of foam, pieced tied on with wire, low quality soldering jobs, break job needed, alignment issues, a major component filled with "Stop-Leak" that needs replacing, and overly dirty air filter, all 4 tires worn in an unusual pattern (indicating further issues), all 4 tires needed replacing, and the list goes on. So many corners were cut...

So we drove the car back to Richfield, dropped the keys in the dropbox, and headed home for bed.

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday was the first Saturday in a while that I had no plans. I really wanted to just do nothing, but thankfully, Matt talked me into doing some yardwork in the morning. We finished digging weeds out of the vegetable garden, pulled dandelions from our yard, cleaned out the lilies, sprayed weed killer on the edge of the back yard rock garden, and Matt even started working on weeding around the berries and remulching. Woohoo! Lots done.

Also, we made plans for shelves in the garage - more storage! I like being productive. And phone calls were made to Africa in honor of Mothers' Day.

But around dinner time, I needed to shift gears and change my blog design. I hope you all like it!

Planning for the Summer

So I have a huge, loosely defined list of things that I've been wanting to do for a while. While I was still in the middle of taking a class, I would think about something that I wanted to do, and then I would promptly forget what that thing was because I was too busy thinking about school/work/other business that was more pressing.

Now that I have some "free time", I really want to spend a while thinking about all of those things I want to do - things to fix up the house, things to organize the house and the rest of my life, things for personal enrichment, things for just plain, old fun.... I know I have a list somewhere in my thoughts. Now if only I could commit that list to paper or some handy, portable, electronic format...

I know what I'm doing this weekend...watching movies and brainstorming for my summer "to-do" list. Yay for summer break!

The end of the semester

Tonight is my last class! I have completed my final paper, and tonight I have one more mini presentation. After that, I will be free for the summer! Who want's to go play some tennis?

I think I need to rescind my previous post...

I came home after class tonight aroung 9 PM. Matt promptly informed me that the bunny did not make it out alive. Max was released into the backyard after Matt got home, and Max quickly discovered the location of the bunny remains. In an effort to rid ourselves of the deceased rabbit, Matt placed the bunny in an area of our yard that is out of the way yet also outside the fenced area. May the bunny rest in peace...

                            /1      __
                           / 1   ,-~ /
                          Y :1  //  /
                           jj /( .^
                          >-"~"-v"
                         /       Y
                        jo  o    1
                       ( ~T~     j
                        >._-' _./
                       /   "~"  1
                      Y     _,  1
                     /1 ;-"~ _  1
                    / l/ ,-"~    \
                    \//\/      .- \
                     Y        /    Y*
                     l       I     !
                     ]\      _\    /"\
                    (" ~----( ~   Y.  )
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The First Capture of the Season

Alright, so school isn't over yet, but I had to post this. Max has already had his first capture of the season. And if I weren't so concerned about the life of a particular bunny-rabbit, Max would have a trophy to show for his hard work.

After (bravely) venturing into the dark backyard to pick up Max as soon as he had set down the bunny, I took him inside. He was not very happy about this, but he didn't fight me too much. (He is pretty lazy unless an animal is running right in front of him.) I went back out later, and the bunny had not moved. It let me get very close. I even gave it a nudge with a very long board, and it didn't move, but it was breathing. A few minutes later, I decided to take a picture of him - he didn't look torn up, and I thought it would be cool to get such a close pic of a bunny. But alas, the bunny had moved. Yay! Another bunny-rabbit's life has been spared. I suppose my vegetables won't be very happy this summer... Oh, the circle of life...

And I'm back....

I have two more weeks of class. This means I have 2 presentations and a paper due. I will probably not post until the craziness is over. Also, I have definitely convinced myself that I need a break this summer from taking any classes. That means I will finally be able to sleep - Yay! Anyway, I'm going to bed now, and I will be back again maybe in two weeks. Goodnight!!

Back to normal...mostly

Yay - new carpet!!!! It looks good, and so far, we've kept the cats from making a mess on it... we'll see how long that lasts.

Yesterday Matt and I got most of the furniture that was in the kitchen. Tonight, Matt amazingly put back the rest of the big furniture all by himself while I was at class. And he moved all the old carpet out to the front to be picked up by the trash company. What an awesome hubby....speaking of which, I need to go snuggle him now, so I'm going to stop here. :-)

The Crack

There is a crack in the front screen on my cell phone. I'm sad.... I looked at it this morning when my alarm went off, and I thought there was a bug on my phone. I was scared for a second, but quickly came to my sensibilities. No spider, just a crack. :-( Hopefully it doesn't get worse before December, but just in case, we still have our old phones!

A long day...

I am tired and sore... today we had a lot of work to do, and thank goodness for our friends who came over to help us get the carpet removed. (Dustin, Dan, Spring, Jason - you all are great!)

Matt and I also got some staining done, which is good, although I just got back and realized that we weren't always consistent in how much stain we used... certain pieces will need a second coat tomorrow.

And at 9, I headed out to meet my co-workers/friends for a night out. It was a little wild, but I survived. :-)

And now I need to get some sleep so I don't fall asleep in Xpedition tomorrow. Is it really 1 AM already?

Empty Rooms

Our stuff has been slowly disappearing... and reapppearing in the downstairs family room! I would take some pictures to show the pile in our family room, but alas, the cable I use to get pictures off my camera is in an unreachable spot. Man, am I looking forward to getting the new carpet in and putting stuff back where it belongs. :-)

Tired....

My eyes hurt... I want to journal, but I'm too tired... and Matt says I have to go to bed. So it looks like there's not much I will write tonight! I'm looking forward to tomorrow night, but I might have to take a nap while I'm there... :-)

What a good Saturday...

I had such a good day today. It all started with some chocolate chunk pancakes....

Matt and I went into St. Paul today so I could show him where I'm working now. We got some exercise walking through the St. Paul skyway system, but we ruined it all with a stop at Caribou Coffee. :-)

Then we headed home for the afternoon, making a couple of stops on the way. I got to snuggle with my cats and watch some TV/help Matt play some video games.

At 3, I headed out to meet my friend Kathryn and some of her gymnastics friends at a bar near the U. We hung out for a while before heading to a MN vs. OK gymnastics meet at 6. I always have fun at those gymnastics meets - it also inspires me to keep trying to include exercise in my week. :-)

After gymnastics, I headed over to our church to catch the last bit of a game night. The remaining group, including Matt, was playing Loaded Questions, so I listened in for a while. Then a few of us played some DDR - always a good time, and it counts as exercise!

Finally, on the way home, I got a call from my cousin Catherine, who happened to be hanging out with my dad. (Catherine goes to school in Indiana, so for holidays she will sometimes head over to stay with my Grandma and hang out with my dad.) We talked for 40 minutes on the phone - good times. :-)

And now I am sitting at my desk while Matt is playing clips on youtube from "Whose Line Is It Anyway?". Again, good times. And what a great end to a great day....

Change of Plans

Well, my chick-flick night turned into a clean-the-car, walk-with-Matt, do-homework night, which then ended with a little bit of American Idol catch-up on youtube. :-)

If you are watching American Idol this season, who are you hoping will win? I am still trying to formulate my opinion, but I think I'm leaning towards Carly...

Also, who typically agrees with Simon? I know I do - practically every time. It's the game of guessing what Simon will say that keeps me watching the show. :-)

Spring Break!

I am excited - there's no class tomorrow! So I guess I get to spend the evening with Matt.

But wait...

Gamestop called today. Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is being released tomorrow. I think my husband may be preoccupied. I suppose it will be a chick-flick night.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for movies to watch or ways to spend a free evening?

New Carpet

For those of you who don't know, the carpet in our house is not exactly my favorite. I do dislike the kitchen floor more, but I don't want to mess with anything in the kitchen unless we are redoing the whole thing. Carpet, on the other hand, can be replaced whenever.

So, in the near future (sometime in early April?), Matt and I will be recarpeting a significant portion of our house.

And here are my questions:
Does anyone want to give us a hand (assuming it works in the schedule)? If so, we will be in your debt... just something to think about.

Also, who knows where we can trash old carpet? Jennifer, you may know since you and Ben recarpeted during your last move... any help is appreciated!

New Job

It's been a while - sorry for slacking. I have been busy, though, as you can probably tell from the title of this post.

I started my new job on Wednesday. Things are going really well so far, and I am having fun while learning a lot. :-) My co-workers are friendly and helpful, and I'm excited to be there. It's also exciting to finally have a job that I can expect to keep for a longer period of time. It will be nice not to have to perform a third annual job search next February/March.

So, here's a thought. I like comments, but I rarely write posts that lend themselves to comments. Why don't I start providing a question at the end of some posts that will hopefully encourage some sharing? Here's the question for this post:

What has been your favorite job/career so far, and what was it about that job that made you like it so much?

Please write a comment! (Also, I may turn on comment moderation so I can be sure to see all comments, even to older posts.)

Memes?

I was tagged by my friend Jennifer to participate in a Q&A blog game, which is apparently known as a "meme". Okay, so it is a generally accepted fact that I tend to lean towards the geeky side. Knowing this, one might imagine that I would know the majority of blogging terms, but alas, I do not. So upon reading the word "meme", I turned to ask a (mostly) trusted resource, Wikipedia. Now I feel like I have a clue and can proceed with my life. :-) On to the questions...

10 Years Ago:
I was a freshman in high school. I was dating my first long-term boyfriend, Kevin, who my parents were not very happy about due to the fact he was a senior. (That relationship lasted over 4 years, and we are still friends, but only talk once in a blue moon.) I was a band geek, and an academic nerd, and most of my friends were in band, too. I played flute, Kevin played trombone. Another good friend, Joe, also played trombone. My dad repeatedly told me that trombone players were trouble, but I ignored his warnings. (My dad also plays the trombone.) My stand partner and future college roomate for a semester, Becky, partnered with me to complain about the evil junior flute players who hated us. (There were no senior flutes that year, and the juniors were mean. I'm happy to report that during my sophomore year, when we got a chance to try out for chairs, I beat out the meanest of the bunch for first chair. Needless to say, she was not happy and became even more mean.)

My biggest bummer of that time was that I missed out on a trip to Ireland that the band took for St. Patrick's Day. To this day, I am still sad about that. My best friend, Dawn, and I were probably not on speaking terms at this point - or had we made up by then? Side note: Dawn was my maid-of-honor and to this day is still my friend. And she played the saxophone.

There really isn't that much else interesting about this time of my life... It was a typically freshman year... Oh - I did get my permit ~10 years ago. That was fun... spinning out in parking lots in a rusty, brown Chevy S-10. Anyway, college was much more fun...

Things on my To-Do List Today:

• Help at MOPS (check)
• Wrap presents for Allison (check)
• Clean my house (I got the office and spare room done, does that count?)
• Clean the litter box (Ummm...still need to do that)
• Blog (in progress)
• Exercise (Hey, I worked up a sweat cleaning that office! - check)
• Make job search phone calls/send emails (check)
• Eat (check - I have forgotten this one before)
• Go to girls' night (check)

Three of my Bad Habits:

1. Slouching. My mom used to poke me while I practiced piano. It didn't help.
2. Staying up late. I can't help it, I just function better after 10 PM.
3. Not drinking enough water. I think that's why I get so many headaches. Thank goodness for Excedrin! It gets me through until I can drink more water.

If I Suddenly Became a Billionaire:
Travel, travel, travel. First stop, Ireland. Second stop - Australia? I've been thinking about that one lately. I like English speaking countries.

I would also love to pay off the house and remodel our kitchen. I really don't want more house to maintain, but I would maybe add on a dedicated office instead of using one of the bedrooms. I could also buy a comparable house with a better layout... Either way, I would want the house function a little more smoothly. No more sticking doors or hard to clean, easy to stain carpeting! Although, we would have to invest most of the money, knowing Matt.

5 Jobs I've Had:

1. McDonalds Crew Member
2. Sales clerk at my uncle's teachers' supplies store
3. Lawnmower/Babysitter
4. Paper Girl
5. Electrical Engineer

5 Things People Don't Know About Me:

1. I have never balanced my checkbook. Ever.
2. I frequently have (and remember) very vivid dreams, and they are usually very odd.
3. I took my best loved stuffed animal from my childhood with me to college. I teared up when, after marriage, I realized I had lost said stuffed animal.
4. I have never lived alone, and also have never had to regularly cook for myself. Thank goodness for that, because according to one of my previous roommates, Soma, I may have starved to death had I lived alone. Let's hope I go before Matt does...
5. I have a fear of ponds/lakes/oceans where you can't see the bottom. There's too much unknown about what lies below the area that can be seen. Who wants to go where they can't see what's near their feet? Very scary.

Okay, so #5 in that last question took me a long time... I tend to be an open book, so hopefully those met the criteria for being things that are unknown to most.

Anyway, I would love to tag everyone on my friends list, but that may leave others with no choice for who they can tag. So, since Allison and Dustin are most likely to read this sooner than everyone else, I will tag the two of you. Happy typing!

Unemployment, Day 3

Lots of meetings today! Thankfully most were by phone. I spent the morning in meetings and the afternoon catching up on homework and typing up notes from one of my meetings - it was a phone interview for part of our group project. And today is class day, so my evening was also used for school. :-)

Other than that, nothing really exciting happened. But I did update my blog skin again! This time, I actually drew the images instead of using brushes. Still not settled on something yet, but this blog skin can last a while if needed.

Jennifer is blogging

A new friend has been added to the left side of my blog! Let's all give a big welcome to Jennifer Dzioba, whose blog address is: http://dzioba.blogspot.com/.

Welcome to the blogging world, Jennifer! And thanks for inspiring me to update my blog template yet again!

Unemployment, Day 2

I got to sleep in today! How nice... it's good to wake up when the sun is shining once in a while. I hung out with my kitties while eating breakfast, and then I got ready for the day and started some more work on taxes. For lunch, I met with some of my girlfriends from BSC, and then I headed back home to work a bit more.

And then my afternoon and evening were lost. I am finally printing all of my tax forms, but I spent all afternoon making sure I had found all possible deductions and credits, and double checking to make sure I handled all investment info appropriately. I am happy to say that I not only know what I'm doing and exactly what I'm paying for, but I am also done - really done. Yay!

So my hope for this week was to have time to clean and do homework. Looks like tomorrow I will be doing homework in the afternoon, as my morning is filled with meetings. Additionally, since I will be helping at MOPS on Thursday, I hope to get cleaning done Thursday and Friday. Oh, and that paper that's due on the 12th? I'll need to get that done, too - maybe sometime this weekend. I can't work any longer in this disaster we call an office...

Unemployment, Day 1

Today was a good and busy day. First thing I had to do was deal with health insurance issues. The insurance we had through my severance from last year was supposed to be a 12-month deal, but I found out after the fact that it didn't cover leap-day... interesting... Anyway, Matt had setup insurance through his company starting on leap-day, but after some checking, it didn't seem like the information had gone through. I also needed to find some sort of documentation to show that I had experienced a "qualifying event" that would allow us to sign up for benefits when it wasn't the standard sign-up time... Suffice it to say that I spent a lot of time on the phone this morning.

So, once I had gotten things settled with that, I folded laundry and cleaned out my "too small" clothes. I was finishing more clothes folding, and I got a call from the person I have been interviewing with for a while. We scheduled another meeting for later this week. After that, I headed out for lunch with Shannon. :-) It was a nice way to break up the day.

After lunch, I prepped for a phone screening interview that was scheduled for the afternoon. The interview went pretty well, so we'll have to see what happens there.

Finally done with the clothes and job-hunting, I started working on our taxes, only to be distracted by a message waiting on my answering machine. It was another job-hunt related call. I called back, and scheduled a phone screening for later this week.

Back to taxes - Due to the taxes on my severance from last year, Matt and I will be getting a refund. Yay! I still have to do state taxes. Oh, and Bible study was last night, too, in between working on taxes. :-)

It was a productive day, but I got no real cleaning or schoolwork done... we'll see about tomorrow. I'll probably first get state taxes done, then start work for school.

Another lead...

My week is quickly becoming booked! I still don't know exactly when to expect a call back from the person I had previously interviewed with, although it should be sometime soon, and today, I made plans for another initial phone screening for a job that one of my classmates recommended me for. Tomorrow will be busy with homework, job hunting, cleaning, possibly breakfast/lunch plans with friends, and general catching-up on "stuff". I will have to try to remember to give a report on what happens during this week. Hopefully I get tons done, including cleaning my house. :-)

I know this was just a quick note, but I'm trying to blog even though I have nothing important to say and no good stories to share, so cut me some slack for now, please...

The Day Before Leap Day

Another February, more changes.

I am going through more emotional highs ad lows right now than I would expect. On Saturday, I woke up feeling on top of the world. It was sunny outside, and I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted. I ended up getting to spend some time with my wonderful friend Jen, and then I got to spend a good amount of time by myself shopping and watching TV. As the day got darker, I got really tired and down. Not sure what all is going into emotional fluctuations on days such as this, but this does seem to be typical for me in these later weeks of winter.

So tomorrow is my last day of work. I have had fun, I have stressed, I have worked hard, and I'm better off because of it all. I am also glad to be moving forward. I have always been excited by change. I seem to enjoy the thrill of the unknown... will I get an offer for the job I think is best? Will I be successful in my future role? Will I ever learn to slow down and stop making so many plans and time commitments? I probably won't ever slow down...

Anyway, I am all prepared to be done at work. I have gone through all knowledge handoffs I could think of, I have checked in all equipment that could possibly be checked in early, I have closed any possible projects, and I have taken home most of my personal items. Today, my manager brought by a very nice letter of recommendation/reference which was totally unsolicited. I feel pretty good about where I am right now, and I'm looking forward to what's next.

It also seems fitting that I take this next big "leap" in my life on "leap day". There is a "leap day" celebration at work tomorrow, and then after work, I'm going out for a Happy Hour with coworkers in honor of three of us who are all leaving work. I always love a good celebration...

V-day Scavenger Hunt Answers

I didn't get any responses from my friends regarding where they thought Matt's notes on V-day were hidden. I like this kind of stuff, but apparently I am alone in that...

Anyway, for those of you who like the answers being given to you, here they are:

1. Search first inside an old device where we get political advice.
A: The tape player in the kitchen.

2. To find me is hard, this do not doubt. A light for when all other lights go out.
A: Next to the flashlight in the under-the-stairs closet.

3. I'm so glad that you're my wife, apple of my eye, love of my life.
A: In the fruit drawer of the fridge.

4. I don't like it when you cry, no not at all, but if you do, I'll cushion your fall.
A: The "couch" covered tissue box in the living room.

5. You want to have small babies to kiss, so leave me alone. I'm no help for this.
A: A box of condoms... :-) I'm not telling where.

6. You put me inside a home far too small. A buffalo I am, strong, proud, and tall.
A: An African, hand-carved, wooden sugar bowl in our family room, where Matt keeps an African necklace with a metal charm of his high school mascot, a buffalo.

7. A treat we serve in Brittish style, sometimes it makes our guests smile.
A: Refering to chai, in one of the African teacups that we have on the shelf between our living room and kitchen.

8. I haven't been paid in years, I regret. You probably owe me $60 I bet.
A: The jar where we keep $$ that we pay ourselves for certain things... :-) Not very good about keeping up with those payments...

9. If not for me, I'm not so sure you would have loved Matt Cromer.
A: Matt's guitar case - the first time I saw him, he was playing his guitar, and I thought he was so cute! Matt and I also both had a second idea for this clue - the case for the Simpsons movie DVD. We also bonded over The Simpsons early in our relationship.

10. Come claim your reward you have now won. Let's go out to eat and have lots of fun!
A: No clue here, but we did go out to eat.

And there you have it. The first annual Cromer family scavenger hunt.

The joy of weekends and warmer weather...

It's Saturday! And that means sleeping in, chocolate chip pancakes with Matt, and finally some time to get things done for the day and still have some time left for random fun!

I have two things I need to do today (other than clean, which I'm leaving for next week when I'll be at home.) I have to do laundry, and I have to read for class. Other than that, I've been taking a long break from job hunting since I'm excited about my current lead and it's looking pretty likely. In other words, no job hunting is needed today... Hmm... I do have a collection of 4 phone messages that I have not responded to - seems I let those sit while I dealt with other pressing matters....

I really would like to get outside today, but it's still pretty cold. Maybe it would be best just to get out of the house. It's so sunny and bright - it makes me think of springtime. Maybe I'll make a trek down to the MOA? That is always fun - and I could stop by IKEA? I like shopping on sunny days. I walk faster and smile more. It makes the experience that much more fun. Yay for Saturdays and warmer weather!!

Another day, another dollar...

Today was interesting. Since I had an interview yesterday, I took last night and today off from touching anything remotely related to a job search. This is probably best, anyway, b/c I have spent the majority of my time at work this week getting "job search things" rolling.

So today I was able to get a good amount of information/knowledge transferred and cleaned out, so that was good. I also helped out with a mini-project that the director of our area needed, so I felt good about that...

And here's the interesting stuff...

I did find out that the interview went well from the interviewer's perspective also, and on top of it, some conversations at work led to the director of our area letting me know that if things don't work out with the job I interviewed for, it may be an option to extend my temp contract depending on the work that needs to be done.

What an emotional rollercoaster of a week. I know my co-workers are feeling this, too, b/c my availability affects their workload down the road. It's a bummer that the initial announcement was made, b/c now I'm in the mindset of leaving, and I know that leaving would also take me in a direction that I would love to go...

Anyway, I'm excited for the coming weeks and continuing the interview process. It should be an adventure!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday after class, I came home to Matt and found a collection of Gerbera daisies on the kitchen table. What a sweetie. :-)

So, we were planning on keeping it low-key. I have been swamped with job hunting/school, so I was glad to keep things low-key.

Then today happened.

First of all, I had an interview for a job that seems like it would be a good fit. I got the interview because my wonderful co-worker Holly passed along a job description that her other-half had posted for a position in his office. There are a series of events that need to happen before any offers can be made, so I'll have nothing more concrete to say about that until sometime in March. Anyway, I am really excited about having found such a strong possibility so quickly. (Thanks to Holly.)

Second of all, when I got home today, I immediately ran to tell Matt all of the details of my day (as I typically do). Eventually, he asked me if I had seen my flowers yet. I hadn't looked, but I remembered that the Gerbera daisies had looked slightly lonely in our large vase, so I checked the kitchen table, and lo and behold, the vase was filled with even more flowers. I also noticed that there was an envelope tucked in the flowers, so I opened it and read the note Matt had left for me. Here is what the note said:

"Search first inside an old device where we get political advice."

He had created a riddle-based scavenger hunt for me! (Oh, how well he knows me...) I continued to follow clues to find more clues, until I got to the end. Each clue after the flowers was hidden with a piece of Ghirardelli dark chocolate. What fun! For those of you who are like me, here are the clues Matt left. Comment on which ones you think you know, and I'll post the answers sometime in the future.

1. Search first inside an old device where we get political advice.
2. To find me is hard, this do not doubt. A light for when all other lights go out.
3. I'm so glad that you're my wife, apple of my eye, love of my life.
4. I don't like it when you cry, no not at all, but if you do, I'll cushion your fall.
5. You want to have small babies to kiss, so leave me alone. I'm no help for this.
6. You put me inside a home far too small. A buffalo I am, strong, proud, and tall.
7. A treat we serve in Brittish style, sometimes it makes our guests smile.
8. I haven't been paid in years, I regret. You probably owe me $60 I bet.
9. If not for me, I'm not so sure you would have loved Matt Cromer.
10. Come claim your reward you have now won. Let's go out to eat and have lots of fun!

So, even if you don't know the answers to clues 1-9, clue 10 should be clear enough. Matt and I went out to Chili's to spend the rest of one of our gift cards from Christmas. And we got an appetizer. And we took pictures of each other. And I looked good in my picture. :-)

Altogether, it was a wonderful, beautiful, no bad, very good day.

Good news and sad news

Last night I was able to complete my first paper of the semester in 2.5 hours, and this morning I did some editing before heading into work. I have been thinking about what to write for a week, which helped when I sat down to actually type. I think it went okay, but we'll see when grades are returned.

So here's my sad news... I was in a situation tonight where I felt a bit of rejection. I was actually impressed with how I handled it, and it is clear that I am growing in this area. It had been mentioned a few weeks ago that I was being invited to be part of a particular group of classmates for working on our final project. Nothing was set in stone, but the inviter hadn't clued me in to any changes in plans. I had been asked by someone else to be in their group, but I told them of my previous plans and asked that they keep me in mind, but not wait.

Well, being swamped with job hunting, I neglected to check on my original plans, and tonight it became obvious (in a non-spoken, middle school kind of way) that I was not welcome in the original group. I have my theories as to why, but as I am learning in class, it is never a good idea to assume that I know the interests of others...

So here's my plan: I need to at least touch base with the inviter to make sure we are okay. And even if things aren't okay, I will find a way to deal with it. Ultimately, I don't feel I did anything to provoke harsh feelings, so hopefully there aren't any problems. I just hate leaving the giant pink elephant in the corner with no one to acknowledge him...

Long story short...

My job is ending on Feb 29, so I'm hunting for work, which means more is on my plate. Lots to do, lots to do. I have to write my first paper of the semester tomorrow and finish updating my resume... scrapping was fun last weekend, but I need another weekend to regroup....

On another note, I love my husband so much and think he is so cute. FYI - he posted a fun story on his blog that you all should read. I will blog more after my paper is written and my resume is out on the web...

Caucuses

I just got back from my first caucus. :-) It was an overwhelming turnout. Interesting process, the caucus... It reminded me of a long time ago when I was watching a made-for-TV version of Alice in Wonderland where they showed a scene that satirized caucuses. The scene in the movie involved people running around shelves and shelves of books in a "caucus race". Ultimately, there was no point to the race in the story, and after seeing the craziness of tonight, I can understand why one might view caucuses as such.

I had fun, though. Plus it was a good excuse to take a break from reading/homework. (It was a 2 hour break, though - more than I was expecting.) My precinct ended up supporting Huckabee (which means I attended the Republican caucus). I'll be interested to see how that compares with the rest of Minnesota...

Looking forward to Friday

I, the queen of busy-ness, have succeeded in accomplishing at least one thing this week. I completed the layout plans for 19 single/double page layouts, and I compiled and printed 53 - 4x6, 5 - 5x7, and 5 - 8x10 photos. This is much more work than one might think, and I am glad to know that my pictures are ready for the weekend.

Now I will most likely not get through all 19 layouts, but I need to be prepared. What if there is a layout that I don't want to work on? I need a backup plan. Or maybe a selection of backup plans. Can't be too prepared, can I?

On to other things... I have a list going for this week. 32 hours of work (8 completed), finish reading my book for class (I'm slow, so this could be about 4 hours...), read my articles for class (1 hour), journal for class (2 hours, spread out), write my paper for class (~5 hours)...

I'd like to pause and mention that I'm starting to notice a trend...

Back to the list. Laundry. Clean the clutter mess that is forming in my upstairs. Call Grandma (since I was too distracted to call her on her birthday, which was Sunday). Coordinate rides for Friday with my carpool. Organize scrapping supplies for the weekend. Speaking of which, I think I need to buy a rubbermaid bin for some of my larger loose items. Clean cat litter. Call Mom - this one is way overdue. Go to class on Wednesday night. Go to Allison's on Thursday night. Exercise daily - 30 minutes - that's not too much... evening devos with Matt and God. Morning Devos with God. Prep for volunteer training. Lunch with past roomates from BSC...

I almost forgot. I need to eat dinner at some point. And sleep. And blog. And answer emails from friends... and...

Happiness

So lately I have been on a big, random-thought and random-activities kick. Playing piano, looking up random things related to hobbies and interests I used to pay more attention to... I think it's all in preparation for school this semester...

I started classes on Wednesday. I'm taking a class about managing interpersonal and organizational conflict. For part of the requirements, I have to keep a journal about conflict in my life. I told this to my co-worker, who then said something along the lines of me having internal conflicts, but her never having seen me willingly get involved in other conflicts (or something like that?)... still not sure what to think about that, but it is interesting to note...

So now I have a paper due in two weeks - a 6 page reflective paper - which isn't difficult, but I have two busy weekends coming up and no time to sit down and focus on writing. We'll see how long it takes me to start... probably the night before it's due. :-)

And now the good news... I've been sitting on the other side of "the wall" at work for the last week. This means I actually have peers sitting close by, and I am actually being treated as part of the training department, as opposed to being off by my lonesome. And I have a relevant project to focus on for a while. This is fun. Now if only things would settle down at work so I could get hired full time...

Max's Return

And life in the Cromer household is now back to normal... including Max's personal cleaning service and Mattie's snuggle time with her brother.

Catching up... or not....

Man, has it been a while. I have now been 25 for 2 weeks! (Sorry to the people who check this blog regularly.) But the good news is - I have started planning scrapbook pages again! I now have about 10 pages/spreads in the works. I'm already running out of pictures for 2007, so maybe I'll take some more for some random fun pages before the retreat in February. I suppose that will partially depend on how much I let my soon-to-start class take over my life... we'll have to see about this...



So the only catching up I want to do is to say that I am now in the middle of a busy project at work that makes my days fly by, and having some free time at night has made my evenings fly by, also. Other than New Years at the Gallop's and lots of fun times with friends, things have been just moving along... Nothing is standing out as noteworthy right now... I suppose that's why I haven't posted? (lame excuse, I know, but I had to try, right?)



In closing, I would like to post a picture of my kitties, in honor of Mattie's braveness in temporarily losing her brother, Max.